Plumbing: repairs, new pipework and hot water in Malta

The work splits roughly into five kinds. New installations: a utility room, an outside tap, a second toilet, a kitchen sink in a new position. Repairs: leaking joints, faulty valves, cisterns that will not stop filling, low pressure. Pipe replacement: old lead or galvanised steel pipework, or copper that has been patched too many times. Water heaters and cylinders. And leak detection, where the job is to find a leak before anyone lifts a floor.

The water company is generally responsible for the water main and the pipe up to your property boundary or the external stop tap. The supply pipe from there into the house is usually the owner's responsibility, as is everything inside. If you rent, your landlord is normally responsible for keeping the water installations in repair. Water companies publish their own maps and rules, and some offer free or subsidised repairs to leaking supply pipes, so ring yours before paying for an excavation.

A leak on your side of the meter shows up on your bill. If a reading keeps rising with every tap turned off, that is a strong sign of a leak on the supply pipe or inside the house. Many water companies have a leakage allowance policy that can reduce the bill once the leak has been repaired, usually on condition that you fix it promptly.

An unvented cylinder runs at mains pressure and depends on safety devices to stay safe. Installing one is notifiable building work.

Electric water heaters and immersion heaters involve the electrical side as well.

Plumbing requests are often vague because the problem is hidden. The more precisely you describe it, the better the chance that the first visit fixes it instead of being a look-and-quote visit.

• what you see: a drip, a stain on the ceiling, low pressure, noise, no hot water
• where it is and whether it is getting worse
• the type of hot water system: combi boiler, cylinder, unvented cylinder, electric heater
• the age of the house and, if you know, the pipe material
• whether you have found your stop tap and whether it turns
• photos of the area and of any labels on the cylinder or heater
• for businesses: opening hours, access, and who signs off the work

Whether the refit needs a development permit from the Planning Authority depends on what is built and where; in apartment blocks, the rules of the condominium also apply. Ask before you commit, and let the business tell you which documents it needs from you.

Electrical installation work is carried out by licensed electricians; ask to see the licence and the certificate for the finished installation. Maltese businesses are registered with the Malta Business Registry, so ask for the company registration and VAT numbers, and check whether the quote includes VAT.

Source: mbr.mt

You confirm your mobile number with a text code and your email address with a link. We then show the request to businesses in your area, without your name or contact details. Only one business can take it on; it pays Offrano for the request, and it costs you nothing.

Before that business sees your details, we email you its name, address and phone number. We check only that it is a registered business, for example through its Malta Business Registry entry or VAT number, not the quality of its work. We cannot promise that a business will respond; if nobody takes the request within 21 days, we withdraw it. Offrano is not a party to any contract for the work.